| Being at the dog adoption center can be pure | | | | busy doing homework, eating dinner, or simply |
| madness, particularly after the loss of another | | | | trying to relax after a hard day's work. He |
| pet. Expectations are low, because the grieving | | | | doesn't move no matter what, and the only way |
| period has just begun yet a family member insists | | | | to convince him to budge is by offering him a |
| that a new puppy is just the medicine for the | | | | biscuit. He wolfs it down in less than five seconds, |
| recent heartbreak. The inextinguishable hurting | | | | and then he's back in his favorite person's lap |
| does not allow for any positive emotions that | | | | again. |
| may come from staring into the eyes of the first | | | | A week later, he begins his chewing stage. He is |
| Pit Bull or Pomeranian. | | | | either teething, or he is trying to teach someone |
| Shuffling through six kennels, hope seems | | | | in the house a lesson that he does not like to be |
| completely lost... until at last life presents the | | | | left alone. The suspected conclusion is the latter. |
| "miracle dog." He's a twenty-pound mutt with big | | | | Now it's crate time. |
| sad eyes and an innocent whine. He looks up as if | | | | So the dog is house-trained, thanks to the crate. |
| to say, "Please take me home, I'll be your best | | | | He also learns that he cannot chew on anything |
| friend." What he really means is, "It works every | | | | and everything... when his owners are around. |
| time..." | | | | Shoes and small articles of clothing slowly go |
| The first few hours are tolerable. The poor pooch | | | | missing, and it's no longer because of the sock |
| has been in a kennel for a while, so he has | | | | fairy living in the laundry machines. Now there's |
| forgotten his household manners, and it's evident | | | | someone new to blame. |
| that the adoption paperwork was off somewhat | | | | A year later, the dog still devours anything in |
| when it read "house trained." It's not his fault. | | | | sight, including the pen cap that was accidentally |
| The dog shows his interest in living comfortably | | | | dropped on the floor, and he still takes over the |
| by jumping up on the couch and curling up next | | | | couch. He's expensive and needy... but he's man's |
| to something warm, most likely a human. This | | | | best friend, and we wouldn't trade him for the |
| happens particularly when the human in mind is | | | | world. |